Thursday, June 17, 2010

Felon charged in fatal shooting of 12-year-old boy in Skyway

A felon who police say fatally shot a 12-year-old boy in Skyway after mistaking him for someone else was charged with first-degree murder Thursday.

By Jennifer SullivanSeattle Times staff reporter

A felon who police say fatally shot a 12-year-old boy in Skyway after mistaking him for someone else was charged Thursday with first-degree murder.

Curtis Walker, 35, was arrested last month after King County sheriff's investigators told the state Department of Corrections that the man might have a firearm in his possession. Walker, who was on probation and forbidden from having firearms, was arrested at his Des Moines home on May 14, according to Chad Lewis, spokesman for the Department of Corrections (DOC).

The Prosecutor's Office held a news conference Thursday morning to announce the murder charge.

Alajawan Brown had just gotten off a Metro bus on April 29 and was walking in the parking lot of the Cedar Village Apartments, 6230 S. 129th St., when he was struck by gunfire. The boy ran to a nearby 7-Eleven, where he died.

Authorities said Walker mistakenly believed Alajawan was someone he had a dispute with when he opened fire in the parking lot. Authorities say that a total of 20 gunshots were fired, striking Alajawan and an unidentified man.

That man was taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle and survived.

According to court records, Walker was convicted in June 2006 of fourth-degree assault, harassment, drug possession and illegal possession of a firearm. According to a Seattle police report, he told his girlfriend that he was "a contract killer" and then threatened to kill her because she knew too much.

Police had found a semi-automatic handgun and cocaine rocks in his sweatpants pocket, prosecutors said. Officers also found marijuana in a pocket of his vest, charging papers said.

Walker pleaded guilty and was given a Drug Offender Sentencing Alternative (DOSA), in which a portion of his prison sentence was suspended so he could attend treatment. He was also ordered to serve probation.

Walker also has four prior convictions for assault, as well as convictions for drug possession, malicious mischief, reckless endangerment, harassment, obstruction, trespassing and violation of a protection order, according to charging documents filed in King County Superior Court.

Walker was arrested by the DOC last month for violating the terms of his probation, Lewis said. Probation officers confronted the man at his home after King County sheriff's deputies notified corrections officials that they had seen him on some sort of video with a gun, Lewis said.

Since May, Walker has been held at the Washington Corrections Center in Shelton and was sentenced by the DOC to remain behind bars until Sept. 4.

During a prayer vigil on May 5, Louketa Brown, one of Alajawan's six siblings, and other family members described the victim as a boy who loved family, drumming and playing football with his Renton Area Athletic Association football team, the Renton Rangers. He was returning home after buying football cleats when he was killed.